Rime: Microsoft rejected Tequila Works’ game before it became PS4 exclusive – rumour

Rime is the PS4-exclusive title from Tequila Works, the same team behind 2012’s release Deadlight. A leaked document now suggests that the title was pitched to Microsoft initially, but that it was rejected by the company.

VG Leaks has posted documents that appear to have come from Microsoft’s XBLA submission process. The game was initially called Echoes of Siren and was pitched as an Xbox Live and Windows 8 release. Tequila Works stated that it needed $3 million in partial funding to bring the game to Xbox Live alone, then a further $40,000 for Windows 8.

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The game was listed on the document as ‘fully exclusive’ on Xbox formats, and at the time only needed 24 more months before completion. In its pitching form; Tequila Works describes Rime as a, third-person isometric RPG with a “great deal of exploration, crafting, survival and hero defence.” The studio also compared it to Orcs Must Die!

The elevator pitch reads, “Gauntlet meets Minecraft meets Jason and the Argonauts,” and continues, “As the darkest legends go, there is a far-off island where evil spirits inhabit and they are able to terrify the most determined and brave heart. It is now as Ecos; the damned island.

“Not always it was this. At another time a great civilization was developed in it. Their inhabitants bloomed until becoming a lighthouse in the dark. History became legend. Legend became myth. Many looked for the island and its secrets. Now, their bones and empty fortresses remain as a reminder of their imprudence.”